Festival of Learning @ BU - Social Media for the Terrified

As part of the Festival of Learning, my colleague Debbie Sadd organised a training event about social media for those who want to know more about the world of social media. I am helping out Debbie by explaining how blogs work.

8th CPTHL Symposium - Istanbul, Turkey (1-5 June 2013)

I have recently attended the 8th Consumer Psychology of Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure symposium, which took place in Istanbul, Turkey. The event was a 'boutique' symposium in that it attempted to attract fewer, higher quality papers. A total of  34 papers authored by academics from 22 countries were presented (Australia, New Zealand, Italy, USA, Canada, Portugal, Turkey, UK, Israel, Belgium, South Korea, Thailand, Iran, Spain, Austria, China, Taiwan, Netherlands, Russia, Serbia, Brasil, Japan). Academics from 19 countries attended the Symposium.

The onward journey was an eventful one. It started well with me getting an upgrade to business class :-). Thank you British airways! As it is a short haul flight, the seating plan is the same as in economy but there's no one sat in the middle seat. The food is much better though. I enjoyed a nice fillet steak with Dauphinoise potatoes.

On arrival in Istanbul, after waiting more than 1 hour for my suitcase (and I had a priority tag on it!), I was taken to the Hotel. It wasn't a smooth ride tough. There was a big protest in Istanbul going on located in and around Taksim Square. The hotel sits next to the square which meant that the car could not get to the front of the hotel. Apparently there were many hundreds of thousands on the streets (probably true given the sheer number of people one could see). The car had to drop me off around 300 meters from the hotel and then I was picked up by a representative of the travel agency who walked with me to the hotel. This is how busy it was!

While being driven to the hotel, a lot of damage was visible. Here are some pictures. 

(Broken glass at a bus stop)

(Burned cover of a building site)

After arriving at the hotel, I joined the welcome cocktail. The hotel is located on a hill overlooking the Bosphorus. The sunset view was very beautiful to watch.

On the afternoon of the 2nd June I presented the paper that brought me to Istanbul. This is the abstract of my presentation: 

A Review of Tourist Satisfaction Research: 2000-2012

Miguel Moital

Events & Leisure Academic Group, School of Tourism, Bournemouth University, United Kingdom.

Girish Prayag

Department of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, College of Business and Law, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Scott Cohen

School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey, United Kingdom.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the current state of tourist satisfaction research, thus contributing to understanding contemporary developments in the area. The literature review focused on identifying the main themes and issues covered by tourist satisfaction studies published between 2000 and 2012 in the three top tourism journals (Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Management and Annals of Tourism Research). Papers which explored tourist satisfaction in any meaningful way were selected for inclusion in the review. This resulted in the in-depth analysis of a total of 76 articles. The main themes identified in the review were the predominance of quantitative research, a pro-satisfaction bias and the study of satisfaction in the context of loyalty. In reviewing the process and content aspects of tourist satisfaction, the review found that a number of heuristics (the mental processes used by consumers when making satisfaction judgments) have been researched and different perspectives with regards to what tourists evaluate have been employed. Finally, the review also found that tourist satisfaction studies have examined satisfaction differences across sectors, products and tourist characteristics, with an emphasis on the latter.

I managed to deliver my presentation within the allocated 15 minutes. A lively discussion ensued with participants making suggestions or asking for additional information.

There were many interesting presentations throughout the symposium and most attracted a lively discussion.

On the evening of the 3rd of June there was a Gala dinner where we could taste a wide range of Turkish food. A Belly Dancer was hired to perform for us:

The Best paper winners were also announced during the dinner:

Arch G Woodside Best Paper Award

Steven Pike- Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Arch G Woodside Silver Award

Brent W. Ritchie - P. Monica Chien - Bernadette Watson

University of Queensland, Australia

Arch G Woodside Bronze Award

Giacomo Del Chiappa - University of Sassari & CRENoS, Italy

Carlota Lorenzo-Romero - University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

María-del-Carmen Alarcón-del-Amo - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain

During my stay, I had the chance to taste many of the traditional Turkish dishes. Here are some pictures:

When walking around the Taksim Square area, one could see a lot of damage, and the cash machines were specially targeted by protesters. Here is one of the worst damaged ones that I saw:

One thing that I found very interesting was the cleaning of the streets after the protests. With so many people, it is not surprising that the streets were full of litter. However, what was surprising was that the citizens cleaned the streets themselves. Many of the protesters carried bin bags and collected the rubbish themselves:

Despite the ongoing protests, I never felt too insecure. I found the protesters well behaved and respectful. This was my second trip to Istanbul and I will definitely return if I can.

Plagiarism case in journal submission

I have just finished reviewing of a paper (from, presumably, Asian authors, given the location of the empirical study) that was blatantly plagiarised. As soon as I started reading the paper, I felt something was wrong. The writting style changed and at times the flow of ideas did not make sense. The text moved from very well written and backed up arguments, to poorly expressed and confusing ideas. When I got to the conclusion, the evidence started to mount. even further. Not only some parts of the text mentioned sectors of the tourism industry that were not the focus of the paper, but at times the text did not make any sense in the context of what was done. I then started searching for the source, and identified two papers from which large chuncks of text had been taken from. 

It is unbelievable that anyone can think they will get away with literally copying large parts of others' papers on to theirs. There is only one word to describe this: fraud attempt. They were unlucky this time because I had just read one of the papers they copied from. But the copying was so extreme that, if published, it would be discovered sooner than later. Shame on you!

Bournemouth University to host International Conference on Events

The School of Tourism at Bournemouth University (UK) presents the

 

International Conference on Events (ICE2013)

and the

10th AEME (Association of Event Management Educators) Forum

 

Overall theme: "Making Waves"

 

Bournemouth (UK), 3-5th July 2013

 

*** Abstract submission deadline: Friday 11 January 2013 ***

The conference

The aim of this international conference is to debate the way in which we see, think and undertake events management research, pedagogy, policy and practice. Acknowledging the growing international research within the events area, the organisers invite extended abstracts from researchers, academics and industry experts who have an interest in events management. This three-day conference will encompass presentations, e-posters and workshops where we hope that participants will bring their expertise to help create a ‘sea-change’ of support for the future of events.

The theme of our conference is ‘Making Waves’, and we want to harness this natural energy to create enthusiasm that will change the way we perform our work under the broad umbrella of events management. Events should be much more than the short-term coming together of like-minded people. The world would be socially, culturally and economically poorer without events, and as academics we are in the privileged position of questioning and critically reviewing the value and meaning of events to individuals and communities.

The aims are to share and develop the 4Cs:

·         Cutting edge research

·         Current and transformative pedagogy

·         Contemporary industry practice

·         Communicating green principles in the way we deliver the conference.

 

Themes for abstracts

We are looking for you to submit your proposals under one of the following themes:

• Making waves – Transformational Power; mega & major events; social media & technology; employment & careers; ISO20121
• Riding the waves – Experiential Events, learning & research; hyperreal experiences; festivity; rituals & rules
• Challenging the waves – Policy & Practice; creativity & design; discourses & narrative; imagination & dreamscapes
• Working the waves – Business Events; professionalisation; the revised purple guide; security; knowledge transfer; imagery, symbols & semiotics
• Create a new wave by proposing original ideas or concepts not covered above.

 

Key Note Speakers

• Professor Don Getz, Professor Emeritus and Adjunct Professor in the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary, Canada.
• Professor Leo Jago, Chief Economist for Tourism and General Manager of Tourism Research Australia.
• Professor Stephen Page, Professor in the School of Tourism, Bournemouth University.
• Jon Weaver, Marketing and Events Manager for Bournemouth Borough Council.
• Susan Spibey, Chair of the new Institute of Event Management.

Organisers

Dr Julie Whitfield, Senior Lecturer Events and Conference Management,

Caroline Jackson,  Associate Dean Events & Leisure

Key dates

·         Abstract submission deadline: Friday 11 January 2013

·         Confirmation of abstract acceptance: Friday 1 February 2013

·         Early bird registration: Friday 26 April 2013

 

Abstract submission guidelines can be found on the conference website. Please email abstracts to: ICE2013@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Supporting Journals

Authors of outstanding papers will be invited to submit to a special edition of the following two journals

·         International Journal of Hospitality and Event Management  

·         International Journal of Event and Festival Management

 
We look forward to welcoming you to Bournemouth in 2013!

São Paulo Conferences

I am currently in Brazil to participate in two conferences:

·         IX ANPTUR – The annual conference of the Brazilian Association of Tourism Research and Post-graduation (30-31 August)

·         V CLAIT – Latin  American Tourism Research Conference (3-5 September)

This is the third time I have attended the ANPTUR conference, having attended both in 2008 and 2010. My active participation in this year’s conferences involved running a 2h30m workshop on publishing in English Language Tourism (ELT) journals. The workshop started with a 30 minute presentation by Rosana Mazaro, from Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). Rosana introduced the latest developments in the funding environment for international co-operation.

At present, only around 30 articles have been published in ELT journals by academics affiliated to Brazilian institutions. By any measure, this is a rather low level of publication. My session focused on the differences between publishing in a Brazilian and English language tourism journals. There are many differences both in terms of the research process on which the publication is based, and how the research is communicated. However, in my study on the barriers to publishing in ELT journals (see post from April) it was clear that the overwhelming majority of Brazilian researchers were not aware of such differences. This is not surprising because they have never gone through the process of submitting a paper to these journals.

In my session, three topics were covered - communication (both language and linguistic issues), literature review and research process/methodology. Simple things like the length of sentences can make a difference on how the research is perceived by the reader. Articles in Brazilian tourism journals tend to feature much longer sentences. I gave an example from a Brazilian journal where a sentence contained 129 words! In the example from an ELT journal, no sentence had more than 3 lines. Other themes within the communication section included the need to use simple language and the structure of arguments. Finally, I also shared my technique of developing ‘lists of expressions’. I sued (and still use whenever needed) this list to become familiar with the specific language used in writing/reporting about each of the components of a journal article (e.g. literature review, reporting the logistic regression results, reporting limitations and future research).

 

In the literature review section, I explained the three types of literature review (theoretical, integrative and methodological), and emphasised the need to include mainly journals and in English language journals (books and national journals are the norm in articles published in Brazilian tourism journals). I also explained the three levels of analysis at which a literature review can be done: descriptive, analytical and evaluative. With regards to the methodology-process aspects, ELT journals are much more detailed about the process of research, which reflects a concern with the validity and reliability of the evidence required to produce conclusions. I explained the helpfulness of developing a conceptual framework (a-priori for quantitative research, a-posteriori for qualitative-type research), as well as the need to clearly explain the measurement issues (data collection and analysis).

A second part of the presentation focused on developing a strategy for starting to publish in ELT journals. I started by showing the number and range of journals – a list of 76, encompassing a wide range of areas and research traditions. I also showed our assessment system in the UK (based on the ABS journal rankings) and explained the differences to the Brazilian system (based on the QUALIS system). Finally, I illustrated how Brazilian academics could gain the skills required to start submitting papers to ELT journals. 

 

A total of 26 academics participated in the workshop and their feedback was tremendously positive. I have been in discussions with two Brazilian colleagues (who have done their PhD in the UK / Australia) for a while with a view to organise a two-day workshop where we would share our experiences of publishing in ELT journals, much in the light of this workshop. We are in a prime position to do this, as we have made the journey from dreaming of one day of one day being able to do it, to actually do it. After yesterday, I am even more encouraged to make sure this workshop happens.

I also had the chance to attend some of the conference presentations, and it is really positive that the quality of the research being carried out is improving. The conference was very well organised - congralutations to ANPTUR's management committee and to the Anhembi Morumbi University (the hosts) for another successful ANPTUR conference. 

Internet in Hotels - Hotels still don't get it

I just can't understand how hotels fail to understand customers... Here I am in São Paulo at the Golden Tulip Park Plaza hotel, a 3.5 star hotel in the Jardins district part of a hotel chain, paying £120 per night (not cheap). The hotel serves mainly business customers, who are likely to require being connected to the Internet on a regular basis (like me). The hotel offers free Internet, but it is way too slow (bordering on desperation!). Alternatively, you can pay for faster Internet - paying 18 pounds per day! Words fail me to comment on this price... It is cheaper to buy a pay-as-you-go dongle! A Hotel that still sees offering fast Internet as an 'extra' is living in the last century. Today, expectations about the quality of the Internet connection are like the expectations of a friendly service, a comfortable bed and a clean room. You want them to be of the highest standard possible and included in the price. Full stop. Would any hotel of this level charge customers extra for a more comfortable bed, a cleaner bedroom or a more friendly service?

Dr. Andrew Spencer wins award

Dr. Andrew Spencer, whose PhD I supervised with Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, has won the 'ITT PhD Student of the Year' award. The Institute of Travel & Tourism (http://www.itt.co.uk/index.php) is a UK-based professional membership body for individuals employed in the travel and tourism industry. The award will be made during the ITT Chairman’s Summer Cocktail party at the House of Commons on Thursday, 19th July 2012. Unfortunately I won't be able to attend as I will abroad for most of July. I would like to congratulate Andrew for his achievement. It is well deserved.

Prof Buhalis, Andrew and myself on the day of Andrew's successul PhD Viva